‘Ah here we go,’ Veronica pushed her dainty gold framed glasses back up her nose and began to read, ‘Eleanor Josephine West born 3rd March 1863 and died 20th October 1887 age 24 at Mercy infirmary. The cause of death is listed as complications due to childbirth.’
Curious, Veronica flicked to the next record. ‘Look here, there was also a stillborn female listed.’
Olivia turned back to the computer and searched again.
‘Twins,’ she nodded, ‘I thought so. It seems Eleanor died giving birth to twins, one didn’t survive and the other was named Katherine Margaret West.’
‘She’s the next name on your list,’ Veronica confirmed.
‘Yes, it seems she died young as well.’
‘May I ask a question?’
Sure,’ Olivia shrugged.
‘I can see Eleanor’s father was listed as James Walker and Katherine’s father is listed as Jonathan Douglas.’
‘You want to know why all the West women take their mother’s name not their fathers.’
She nodded curiously.
‘It’s a family peculiarity, for some reason as far back as we can trace my family history, only girls are ever born into the West family.’
‘Really?’
‘It’s almost a single unbroken female line, each generation usually only has one child. Every so often we get twins, but always identical and always girls.’
‘That’s weird,’ Veronica breathed, ‘no boys ever?’
‘Nope.’
‘Well, Eleanor is obviously not the one you’re looking for, she was slightly too old and she didn’t drown. So let’s take a look at Katherine, did you want copies of these records?’
‘Yes please, I’m probably going to be spending the next twenty years trying to sort out my family history. I don’t think anyone’s ever done a comprehensive family tree of the West’s. But they kept everything, my house is full of journals and family papers, it’s going to take forever to sort through it. It’s a wicked mess.’
‘I’d love to help you sort through all that history,’ Veronica replied dreamily.
‘You really are perfect for this job aren’t you?’
‘Yes,’ Veronica laughed, ‘I love history; nothing makes me happier than sorting through layers and layers of it.’
‘You won’t be saying that when you’ve been through the layers of my family.’
‘Seriously, I’d love to help out.’
‘Well I might just have to take you up on that once you’ve finished the renovations here.’
Olivia waited patiently as Veronica took a copy of the certificates and reappeared at the table with another box and was soon sifting through another dusty volume of records.
‘Here we go, Katherine Margaret West born 20th October 1887 died 30th November 1918 age 31, cause of death is listed as Influenza.’
‘Okay so not her either.’
‘The last name on the list was Charlotte?’
Olivia nodded, although Veronica’s gaze was firmly fixed on the records in front of her.
‘Charlotte was another twin; she and her sister Elizabeth Laura were born in 1905. From the date of birth, I guess they were Katherine’s daughters.’
‘You’d be right, here it is. I think we have a winner. Charlotte Lilly West born 20th May 1905 to Katherine Margaret West and Henry James Dover. Died 18th July 1924 age 19, place of death, Mercy Massachusetts and the cause of death is listed as accidental drowning.’
‘We found her,’ Olivia’s gaze dropped to the page as Veronica turned the book around so she could get a closer look. ‘It has to be her.’
‘Do you mind me asking…why are you looking for her in particular?’
‘That’s depends, do you want the crazy insane answer or do you want me to lie?’ the corner of her mouth curved.
‘The truth,’ Veronica replied curiously.
‘I have a ghost,’ Olivia sighed and waited.
‘I’m sorry what?’
‘A ghost is haunting my house and I am trying to figure out who she is.’
‘You’re right that is insane,’ Veronica frowned.
‘You asked,’ Olivia shrugged.
‘But ghosts aren’t real.’
‘You come and spend a night in my house then we’ll have this conversation again,’ Olivia replied nonchalantly.
‘Okaay…’ Veronica turned sceptically back to the book and wisely chose to drop the subject, ‘this is odd.’
‘What?’
Veronica was reading through the death certificate in more detail.
‘I have a Mr Augustus Philip Swilley listed as informant on Charlotte’s death certificate.’
‘Why’s that odd?’
‘Because I recognise his name from one of the displays downstairs. Augustus Swilley was the Mayor of Mercy from 1920 to 1926 until he died unexpectedly from a massive heart attack.’
‘Why would the Mayor of Mercy be registering Charlotte’s death?’
‘Exactly,’ Veronica mused, ‘we do seem to have stumbled onto a bit of a mystery.’
‘Well it’s a start,’ Olivia murmured, ‘at least I know her name now.’
‘You know,’ Veronica began thoughtfully, ‘Renata was just telling me yesterday that she’d loaned a few of her interns to Mr Mayberry at the Mercy Chronicle last summer. They were helping him and his staff scan the newspaper archives and upload them into a virtual library, which we have access to.’
She pulled a small pink flowered notepad from her pocket and leafed through it.
‘I haven’t learned all the passwords yet,’ she replied sheepishly as she caught Olivia staring at her.
Settling down comfortably into a chair next to Olivia she logged in to the archive and began searching.
‘It was 18th July 1924 wasn’t it, Charlotte’s death?’
‘Yes,’ Olivia replied absently as she sent a quick message to Jake with the name and date of death. When he had the time to look into the police records he’d at least have a time frame to work with.
‘Here we go,’ Veronica spoke after a few moments. ‘It is with great sadness Mr Henry J. Dover and Miss Elizabeth L. West announce the death of a beloved daughter and sister Charlotte L. West. Miss West’s body was discovered on the shore of the lake near to her home having accidentally drowned on the evening of 18th July. The burial is to take place on the 20th at Mercy Cemetery.’
‘Wow,’ Olivia leaned back in her chair, ‘Charlotte West…she was only 19 years old.’
‘I’ll print out the death announcement and get all the copies of the certificates for you,’ Veronica told her softly.
Olivia looked down at her watch. It would be getting dark by now and she wondered if Theo even remembered she wasn’t there or if he was still brooding in his studio. She sighed heavily; she supposed she would have to face him sooner or later.
‘I have to get going now,’ she shut down the computer and stood, grabbing her coat as she went. ‘Thanks Veronica, I appreciate all your help.’
‘It’s my pleasure,’ she smiled handing the papers to Olivia, ‘if you need anything else give me a call.’
‘I will.’
By the time she stepped back out onto the sidewalk, the temperature had dropped again and the sky was already dark. Pulling her gloves and hat on she hunched down against the biting wind and headed for her car. Just one more stop and then she could head home.
There was little in the way of traffic and the drive back was short. Trudging up the frozen steps to the porch she opened the door, expecting to find the house quiet and dark with Theo back in his cave. Nothing prepared her for the roll of smoke which greeted her, nor the curse words coming from the kitchen, accompanied by enthusiastic barking.
‘I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear before.’
Theo’s head snapped up at the familiar voice in the doorway to the kitchen. He paused in the act of pulling something unrecognisable from the oven
and stared at her with unfathomable eyes. But as the heat from the tray slowly penetrated the potholder he yelped in pain and dropped the tray with a resounding crash.
‘Shit.’
She couldn’t help the smile tugging at her lips; he looked so flustered and cute.
‘I was cooking you some dinner,’ he frowned.
‘You cooked for me?’ she replied softly.
‘Yes,’ he gazed down at the charred mess on the floor, ‘I don’t think it’s very edible though, even Beau won’t touch it.’
‘Then it’s just as well I brought dinner with me,’ she held up a bag.
‘Chinese?’ Theo smiled hopefully.
‘Yes,’ she replied as she dumped the bag on the island and walked past him to open the back door, letting the last of the smoke clear from the room.
She turned back towards him and found herself caught up in his arms, his lips fused to hers. Unable to help herself she relaxed into the kiss as his fingers tangled in her hair and he took her down into a deep drugging kiss.
‘I’m sorry,’ he murmured against her mouth. ‘I’m sorry about earlier, I’m sorry about the last few days.’
She nodded slowly as he released her. She didn’t say anything; she wasn’t ready to but she knew they would have to have a talk sooner or later. Theo needed to know he wasn’t bound to her, that he could leave anytime he wanted to, whether she wanted that or not.
‘Where did you disappear to today?’ he asked.
Glad for the change of subject she felt her shoulders relax and she even smiled.
‘Get the wineglasses, I’ll get the plates and then I’ll tell you what I found out.’
Chapter 4
Olivia fumbled for the phone on her night stand as the ring tone blared out unexpectedly.
‘Lo,’ she mumbled.
‘Olivia?’ a soft voice spoke, ‘I’m sorry dear it’s Renata, did I wake you?’
‘No, it’s okay,’ she glanced at her watch realising how late in the morning it was. Beau must be desperate by now. She swung her legs out from under the covers trying not to disturb Theo, who grunted and rolled over.
‘How are the renovations going?’ Olivia yawned as she padded from the room closely followed by Beau, who danced expectantly around her legs.
‘That’s what I wanted to speak to you about.’
‘Oh?’
‘We finally got around to sorting through the last storeroom which one of the research suites will extend into and we came across some of your belongings.’
‘Mine?’ Olivia frowned in confusion as she pulled an over sized sweater over her pyjama’s.
‘Well, they are now,’ Renata explained. ‘These items were loaned to the museum by the West family about thirty years ago as part of a display. After that particular exhibit was dismantled they were put into storage and I suppose they were forgotten about. But as you are the only West left they belong to you now.’
‘Oh I see,’ she trotted down the stairs, ‘do you want me to come by and pick them up?’
‘No, no dear, a couple of the items are quite large,’ she replied. ‘The work isn’t due to start in that section until next week, so I’ll have someone bring them by the house for you in a day or so.
‘Well if you’re sure,’ Olivia frowned as Beau hit the last step and rushed into the kitchen barking happily.
‘It’s no trouble.’
Olivia wandered into the kitchen and froze at the familiar face that greeted her.
‘I’m sorry Renata I need to go,’ she murmured into the phone.
She barely registered her response as she hit the disconnect button. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ she asked coldly.
Her father finished making a fuss of Beau before looking up at her.
‘You look well Olivia,’ he replied conversationally, as if they’d only just seen each other days before, instead of the nearly two months that had passed since that night at Boothe’s Hollow.
‘Haven’t you heard of knocking?’
‘Would you have let me in?’
‘No.’
He raised a brow knowingly.
She stormed past him and opened the back door. Sensing imminent relief Beau rushed outside.
‘You can go too,’ Olivia glared at her father fiercely.
‘Not until I’ve spoken to you,’ Charles replied easily, ‘this conversation is long overdue.’
‘There is nothing you could say to me that I would possibly want to hear.’
‘Aren’t you at least going to offer me a coffee?’
‘No,’ she crossed her arms.
‘Olivia, it’s about your mother.’
‘Like I said,’ she replied coolly, ‘there is nothing you could say to me that I want to hear.’
‘Stop being childish, this isn’t about what you want; this is bigger than either of us.’
‘Then you go and deal with it,’ she shook her head in disgust, ‘I’m done with both of you. You can go after her, or you can go back to Morley Ridge or you can go to Hell for all I care. I didn’t want anything to do with this and yet both of you dragged me into it and for what? You screwed up my childhood, lied to me, betrayed me, left me all alone for the last twenty years and then finally, as the icing on a really crappy cake, I got shot for my trouble. Thanks but no thanks, you can clean up your own mess.’
‘It’s not as simple as that, you’re a part of this whether you like it or not.’
‘Only because the two of you dragged me into the middle of this crap heap.’
‘No, because you are a West. It’s your blood that makes you a part of this and like it or not you have a responsibility.’
‘Fuck you and your responsibility,’ she muttered angrily.’ ‘You left me all alone, passed from family to family because no one wanted me, because no one wanted to adopt the child of a murderer.’ Her voice cracked as she ruthlessly bit back the tears which threatened to fall.
‘For twenty years you let me believe that you were a monster, that you killed mom and even when you found out that she was alive, you still didn’t tell me the truth. You let me go on mourning a woman I thought loved me.’
‘Olivia,’ he sighed, ‘despite everything the woman you knew, the mother you remember, did love you.’
‘Yeah,’ she replied bitterly, ‘because nothing says ‘‘I love you’’ like a bullet wound.’
‘I can see you’re not ready to discuss this,’ he stood and smoothed the rumpled line of his jacket. ‘I wish I could give you more time but we simply don’t have that luxury. Unless you have forgotten there is a demon loose in Mercy that needs to be caught and shoved head first back into whatever Hell dimension he came from. We don’t have time for you to feel sorry for yourself.’
‘You’re such an asshole.’
‘It has been said,’ he shrugged.
‘I tried everything to stop him from being raised with no help from you,’ she hissed furiously, ‘so don’t you dare blame me for this.’
‘No,’ he replied quietly, ‘there’s plenty of blame to go around and most of it falls squarely on your mother and I. She was obsessed with raising the demon and I didn’t see it until it was too late. It was my job to stop her and I failed. I hope you can believe me when I say to you truthfully; I never ever wanted you to get hurt. I would’ve taken that bullet myself if I could have gotten to you but I couldn’t and for that I am truly sorry.’
‘How can I trust a word that comes out of your mouth?’
‘I know it will take time for you to trust me again,’ he answered and for the first time she could hear the remorse in his voice. ‘Theo has my number, please use it. I know this is a hard situation for you but like I said earlier we simply don’t have the luxury of time. You mother isn’t going to wait. Raising the demon Nathaniel was simply a step in a much more elaborate plan, it was not her end game. I know you want to walk away from all of this and I wish I could let you. But things are only
going to get worse and this time you do need to be prepared.’
Olivia stood quietly watching him.
Stepping towards the door, he paused and looked back at her.
‘I know that you lost your childhood. I took that from you and that is something I will never be able to make right. But there wasn’t a single second I didn’t think about you. I made sure that you were watched over and protected. You said you always felt alone but you weren’t… because even though you couldn’t see me I was always with you.’
Olivia watched as he disappeared out of the door. She could feel the tears and pain burning the back of her throat as she stood motionless in the cold doorway. Beau suddenly reappeared having relieved himself outside, but instead of jumping up at her for his breakfast, he scurried happily past her, wagging his tail. She followed him numbly with her gaze until it fell upon Theo standing in the kitchen doorway propped against the door frame, watching her intently.
‘How long have you been standing there?’ she asked, her voice sounded rough and foreign to her own ears.
‘Long enough,’ he replied softly.
Turning away from him she closed and locked the back door taking a minute to draw in a shaky breath. Seeing her father brought everything flooding to the surface and all she wanted to do was turn and burrow into Theo’s arms. She wanted to have him hold her so tightly that it would knit back together the pieces of her that felt as if they were flying apart. But she couldn’t, she wouldn’t let herself. It wasn’t fair to him, he needed to come to terms with his new life in the present day and choose what path he wanted his life to take from this point on. She didn’t want him to feel guilty or obligated in any way to her.
No, she squared her shoulders and straightened her spine, this she would have to deal with on her own. After all she’d spent the last two decades taking care of herself, she couldn’t start relying on someone else now. If the last few months had taught her anything it was that even the people she was closest to, could and would betray her.
When she turned back to him, her eyes were guarded and her voice casual.
‘Would you like some breakfast?’ she switched the coffee machine on and reached for a new filter.
‘What I would like is for you to talk to me the way you used to,’ he frowned.
The Ferryman (The Guardians Series 1 Book 2) Page 5